Ditata Daily: Weekly Update

My friend Kelly is friends with my hairdresser Lyndsey, who knows my friend Lyndsey through preschool, who also knows my friend Lindsay...did you get that?! Kelly and I were saying how we've never met a Lyndsey/Lindsay or Kelly/Kelli that we didn't like. We joked about having a Lyndsey/Lindsay/Kelly/Kelli playdate and actually made it happen. We all met at Reunion Trails with our little nuggets and they were all so excited to see each other:

(Ev was the only kid not pictured because she was too busy eating a donut, surprising I know.)

We went to the Fashion Show Mall with Grammy and Pop Pop Tuesday morning since I still needed a few things before our trip to Ohio. Tenley loved walking around with Grammy:

Our little shopping trip exhausted Evie and she slept so sweetly in my bed:

I attempted to get some packing done Wednesday morning, but the kid's needs kept getting in the way. Plus, they were being too dang cute to ignore:

Evie is really starting to get her voice. She sings 'Happy Birthday' in the sweetest way and really wanted to wish her cousin a happy birthday:

My in-laws took the kids to my brother-in-laws Thursday morning so they could play (and I could finally pack). They had so much fun playing with their cousins and loved playing with all of her new birthday gifts:

Once I finished packing it was a total waiting game. The kids refused to nap because they just wanted to hang with Grammy and Pop Pop:

It wasn't pretty when they had to leave to return their rental car:

When Ed got home from work, he packed us up and took us to the airport to meet his parents for our flight. It was really helpful having the extra help getting my little stowaways to our gate:

(I spy a Evie Cake in the bottom of the stroller...)

Saying goodbye to Ed was too fast for my liking. I had priority boarding since I needed assistance with the car seats and we were rushed on the plane and I only had time to give him a quick kiss goodbye. From then out, my mind was in "single mom" mode and I thought of nothing other than their every move. Once everyone was seated, their excitement kicked in. When the plane took off the kids had their hands in the air screaming, "blast off!!" Tenley even shouted, "this is better than Disneyland!!":

Wes passed out after an hour of flying, but the girls were too wired to sleep. I was exhausted trying to get Ev to sleep/entertain her. I swear someone gave her coffee:

Once we landed, the kids got excited again as we picked up our bags and hopped in the shuttle to get our cars. The girls were in one car and the boys in the other. Wes entertained Pop Pop the entire way home, Tenley passed out immediately, but Ev sang us songs until around 3:30am. We got home at 4am and luckily I was able to put Ev and Tenley right into bed without even waking them. Pop Pop managed to get Wes to fall asleep after a few minutes. The kids slept like rocks. Tenley was the first to wake up around 11am, Wes woke up shortly after and Ev slept until 1pm:

My mom came over as soon as she got word that T was up:

Aunt Jan came over to play with the kids, too:

Wes spotted Ed's helmet from high school and looked so funny as he walked around trying to hold his head up:

Ed's cousin Aleia was getting married at The Rose Garden Friday night and Tenley got the star treatment as she got ready for it- Aunt Julie did her hair while Grandma Cath painted her nails, like the little Diva that she is:

The kids were ready and looked as cute as could be:

We got to The Rose Garden a little early and the kids loved exploring all the greenery:

The kids enjoyed playing in the Gazebo as the guests began to arrive:

The kids were SO excited to meet their new cousin, baby Joey. They were kind of obsessed with him and love him so much that they had to wake him up from his nap (sorry, Nicole!):

It seems unreal that I met Aleia when she was only 9 years old and now she is 22 and marrying her soulmate. I could picture her running around Ed's house with her long curly hair like it was yesterday. Now Uncle Den is walking her down the aisle to give her away:

Tenley and Wesley hung on every word that the minister said. It was so sweet to see them watching so intently as Will and Aleia became husband and wife:

Minutes after the ceremony it began to rain, then cleared up minutes later leaving the perfect setting for pictures (I mean, talk about lucky!):

While we waited for the Bride and Groom to be introduced, I finally got to hold baby Joey. I was in Heaven and my ovaries kind of exploded due to his cuteness. I even got to feed him; which put me over the moon:

While everyone snacked on hors d'oeuvres, the kids raided the cookie table a.k.a. the greatest thing about Ohio weddings. Of course, they made a bee line to the buckeyes (like mother, like children):

The kids made their way around the tables and got the party started on the dance floor:

Mr. & Mrs. William Kelly were introduced and had their first dance:

Next up was the Father/Daughter dance; which is always emotional, but even more so since they've both been in my life for what seems like forever. Seeing the unconditional love and support in their eyes was so heart warming:

Tenley smiled ear-to-ear as she watched the dances because she felt like she was in a real life fairytale (and she really was):

After eating, everyone let loose on the dance floor. My kids were the center of everyone's attention and they ate it up. I've never seen them dance so long in my life and they had me laughing so hard:

We had such a blast celebrating Aleia and Will! We made memories with our family that will last a lifetime:

(Congrats Mr. and Mrs. William Kelly!! Wishing you endless happiness! Love you both!)

I signed myself up for classes at Pure Barre Youngstown a week before I even arrived; which came in handy after all those buckeyes I ate at the wedding! I took my first ever platform class at 7:15am Saturday morning and can honestly say I've never sweat like that before. I literally watched my sweet puddle up on the platform and loved every second of it. The class was ah-mazing and I like to think I rocked my first class and made Pure Barre Henderson proud:

When I got back to my in-laws house, the kids were still sleeping so I enjoyed my coffee on the back patio:

Once the kids were up, we started to get visitors. The kids played outside in their jammies and had fun playing with everyone:

Saturday afternoon we had a pool party with my family at Uncle Ray's. It was so nice to relax by the pool with everyone in my family, literally. From Grandpa John, to my dad, to my Confirmation sponsor, Mary...everyone was there! The kids had a blast swimming with their cousins, grandma Cath, great aunts and uncles:

It was nice to have so many helping hands so I could catch up with my family:

Of course when you're in Ohio you have to eat the essentials: Wedgewood Pizza and Whitehouse Fruit Farm Donuts (especially the blueberry donuts!):

It's rare that we can get everyone together at the same time so we had to get a family photo to document it (of course my kids were busy eating their 10th donut):

My dad arrived after the family photo and I kind of feel he was deliberately late so he didn't have to take 100 pictures. Either way, I had to get a picture with him:

We couldn't keep the kids out of the pool if we tried. They were just having too much fun being fishies:

Wes really took to all the men in my family. He was constantly going up to his uncles and grabbing their hands or giving them hugs. It's like he knew who they were and how important their bond was. It especially warmed my heart when Wes was playing Power Rangers with Grandpa Jim. It's those special moments that are most important to me:

That night the Shuluga girls came over to play and get the kids ready for bed (it really takes a village):

While the kids were safe and sound at my in-laws, I went back to Ray's to catch up with my brothers and cousins. We sat on the deck and drank my Uncle Bill's homemade wine; which was delicious! We had so much fun and it was like no time had passed at all:

My in-laws broke out Ed's first bike for the kids to take a spin on and Wes looked like a mini-Ed on it:

The kids hung out outside as we waited to leave for the Akron Zoo:

Everyone met at the Akron Zoo and it was really a perfect day! The weather was beautiful, the kids were happy and life was good:

Tenley was stoked when she spotted the carousel so we piled on like little kids excited to pick out our animal:

We went inside the Rainforest and the kids got to pet a stingray and starfish:

While waiting for everyone to catch up the kids hitched a "ride" on a lion:

Wes held Uncle Mike's hand the entire time. He would literally look for him in the crowd and make his way to him. It absolutely melted me:

Forget the sleeping lions, these kids were all about the pretend car:

Next up was Tiger Valley where we saw the most beautiful tiger, a bear and got in a little exercise:

Ev was fascinated with a bald eagle that could've scooped her up in a heartbeat:

My favorite part of the Akron Zoo were these two bears who we got to watch fight over a block of ice, literally right in front of us:

The kids got in some play time on this clear slide that went through the otter exhibit:

Wes watched the foxes with his look-a-like, Uncle Ray:

The little cousins went on a train ride together. Towards the end of the ride Christopher yelled to Glenell, "get me my water!" and Wes has been yelling that every time he sees Chris. Now that is all I could think about when I see the train pictures:

The Akron Zoo was really good for the kids because it had entertainment for them throughout the exhibits:

Last, but not least, we had to ride the carousel again. Evie wanted to ride "Momo" so Grandma Cath made a mad dash towards it and tripped. Now when someone asks her what Grandma Cath did on the carousel she points down and yells "DOWWWW!" Not funny, but Ev is funny and she got to ride Nemo:

Before we made it out of the parking lot the girls passed out:

When we got home, Tenley got to walk the neighbors dog:

Uncle Jim came to visit and Wes had so much fun with him. Wes kept saying, "No weave me. No go anywhere." I've never seen my brother smile so much; which was amazing to see: